


nothing ever stops

by Beek



Category: Aladdin (2019)
Genre: F/M, Takes place about 10 years after Jasmine and Aladdin are married and Jasmine is Sultana, War is coming, sequel to the movie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:34:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24426598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beek/pseuds/Beek
Summary: 10 years into her rule of Agrabah, Jasmine is overwhelmed when enemies begin appearing around every corner. Her marriage is unsteady and her counsel is corrupting her entire government from the inside out, so she seeks out the only source of information and support she can think of.
Relationships: Jafar/Jasmine (Disney), past Aladdin/Jasmine
Comments: 11
Kudos: 24





	1. A Broken Counsel

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written any sort of story or fic in almost 12 years so this is new and scary territory for me. Since I watched Aladdin and was underwhelmed by parts and pleased by other parts, I've had this idea in my mind. 
> 
> Please be patient with me, I'm rusty as hell.

It is the fourth day in a row that dark clouds circled the city of Agrabah. The rains were promised and they would come, of that Jasmine was certain, but the lead up to the monsoons was ominous and stifling. Every day the air got heavier with humidity and every day the sun was hidden more and more by dark clouds. It was only a matter of time before the skies opened and wept upon her dry, starving city. The year before the rains had been scarce so provisions were being kept tight across the kingdom; she had made sure that her table only carried what the table of a farmer would carry and the decision was met with loud disagreement from her advisory counsel.

Following the imprisonment of Jafar, Jasmine had made the decision that no rulership would ever be governed by one and only one individual again. She had sent out her palace guards into the city and kingdom to find people to build a counsel of advisors, 8 men and women from the different industries and fields that made up Agrabah. Agriculture, sailing, artisans, and so on were gathered and for the first few years of the counsel’s existence, it had proven to be quite the boon.

Laws were developed and installed that benefited the people, taxes adjusted, farming practices standardized so that crops were readily available to the people. Agrabah went from surviving to thriving and Jasmine was proud, made even more proud by the look of approval on her father’s face. 

As time as progressed, though, the counsel became more and more infatuated with the glitter of palace life. They began to wear more jewels and gold and had complained loudly when Jasmine ordered that the royal stockpile of grain and corn be accessed for the people so that they did not starve during the last, low yielding year. 

They complained loudly that Aladdin was uninvolved with politics and would regularly disappear for weeks at a time.

They complained loudly that she did not yet have an heir.

If it did not rain soon, they would complain loudly about that as well and find a way to blame it on her. Just as they blamed her for the neighboring countries amassing armies though the hostilities were not yet aimed at Agrabah. Jasmine was no fool, they were the largest port city on the coast, it would only be a matter of time before war came to their docks. 

Jasmine sighed as she gazed out at the city from her balcony. Her hands rested on the carved stone rails that were sticky with humidity and despite the sweltering heat, she was dressed appropriately for her station. White, gold, and emerald fabrics draped elegantly, her hair pulled back to keep it from sticking to her neck, her makeup was done but simple so it didn’t run off; from the perspective of the people below she looked how a sultana should look. Anyone who dared to get closer would see the hard line she pressed her mouth in to, the dark circles that no amount of makeup could ever quite cover up, and the weariness in her gaze as her mind ran through challenge after challenge.

“Your grace.” Footsteps stopped at the edge of the balcony and Jasmine turned to face Hakim, her most loyal guard with his almost entirely grey beard. “I intercepted this missive from Advisor Sabah,” he said, presenting a folded letter, a blue wax seal still intact. Jasmine knew from the somber look on his face that the contents of the letter would reveal what she had been fearing.

Having grown up near the sea and spent time aboard boats, the first word that came to her mind was mutiny. The counsel was displeased and would be moving to instill Aladdin on the throne instead of her, citing hysteria for their reason. 

Setting her jaw, Jasmine folded the letter and handed it back to Hakim. “Tell no one,” she warned and turned away from him. She saw Aladdin flying towards the balcony atop his carpet and she walked quickly to meet him.

Her mind was racing; her counsel was turning their backs on her amid a drought with whispers of war among her neighbors. There was little time to think, she must act immediately if she wanted to protect her place in the kingdom. As much as she loved her husband, he was not politically minded and he would simply be a pawn for the counsel to puppet not unlike how her own father was puppeted by…

“Aladdin!” She reached out to grab his wrist before he could dismount the carpet. His brow instantly furrowed in concern and he helped her up onto the carpet after a moment of watching her try to pull herself up. 

Before Aladdin could speak, Jasmine was taking hold of the edge and urging the carpet away from the palace and towards the desert. “What’s going on, what’s wrong?” He wrapped his arms around his wife and Aladdin could feel how tightly wound she was, how her body was poised and ready to snap at an instant. 

“I need you to take me to the Cave of Wonders, where you found Genie.” It was a wretched idea, one that was sure to backfire on her but it was all she could think of. Jasmine was drowning in her own government and starving alongside her people, she needed some way to break the surface and gulp down as much air as she could before she was pulled under again. Magic--she hadn’t always believed in magic and she couldn’t say she necessarily believed in it now, but she believed that it could be useful. It had to be useful. 

“Why?”

“Agrabah needs a genie of its own.”


	2. A Broken Marriage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lamp is retrieved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the feedback, it's been very encouraging!

In their years married, Aladdin had gone into detail about how he came to possess the lamp that led to a tumultuous week of power changing hands, lies, and threats. The first time Jasmine heard the story, she didn’t believe it. How could she? A tiger’s face rising from the sands and weighing the value of souls when they entered its mouth seems like a story a parent would tell an unruly child. _Behave yourself so that when you find the Cave of Wonders, the tiger won’t eat you!_

But now she stood in front of the tiger, it’s rumbling breaths rolling over her and somehow managing to be even hotter than the unforgiving sun. Jasmine stared into its open mouth, a faint light glowing from deep in its throat, and was frozen. Aladdin was speaking to her but his words were mush and his furrowed brow and worried expression meant little to nothing to her. 

“You must go,” she said, cutting off whatever phrase of concern he was trying to speak. “You have already done it once, you are a proven diamond in the rough.” She watched him stop to consider it and Jasmine realized that in this moment, she was felt more a sultana than ever before. She was ordering here own husband to step into the unknown, knowing there was a chance he would not be returning. There was a chance that his diamond had faded and chipped, that he was no longer pure enough to step through the maw without incurring its wrath.

Jasmine was not too proud to admit, though, that there was a much better chance that she is the one who would be too far gone and would be consumed instantly. 

After pausing long enough to run her fingers along the edge of the carpet, Jasmine nodded to both of them and stepped away. Aladdin looked like he wanted to argue, to object and fight back, but the hardened look in her eyes quieted him. It must be done, not for her but for their kingdom. Whether he acted like it or not, he was husband to the sultana and they were his people too.

It was only thanks to years of court that Jasmine kept her face schooled in a perfect, unphased expression as the carpet carrying her husband disappeared down the gullet of the waiting tiger.

Time stretched on while she waited. She refused to sit in the sand and the delicate slippers she wore around the palace were not made for the hot sands, so all Jasmine could do was stand and watch the tiger’s mouth. It did not close, it did not make a sound aside from the growling breaths that shuddered from deep in the earth. It seemed like her suspicions were correct, that her sweet husband was still very much a diamond in the rough. He was untouched by the corruption at court, maybe it just added more shine to him.

The sun was beginning to slide behind blackened rain clouds when she saw movement from within the tiger’s maw. Aladdin flew out, his face covered in dust and dirt, and in his hands was a black lamp.

She felt her heart clench at the sight of the lamp, the memories of that day still fresh in her mind thanks to the nightmares she could never quite outrun. The feeling for paralysis and flight all at once, the world seeming to pass in half speed in front of her as she could do nothing. And all of that lead to this, a simple black lamp with no glitter or jewels to it. 

The carpet flew closer and once again Aladdin helped her up onto it. She reached to him and wiped the dirt and dust from his cheek so that she could kiss it before she took the lamp. 

The metal was cool and smooth to the touch and despite the color and the sharp angles, it fit comfortably in her hand. Her heart pounded in her ears as the enormity of the situation settled in over her. She was truly willing to seek out the man who tried to take the title of sultan from her father, the man who tried to kill her husband, the man who tried to force her hand in marrying him. A crack of thunder ripped through the air and carpet shuddered in surprise before a moment later, the first fat drop of rain landed on the back of Aladdin’s hand that held onto the edge of the carpet. 

Jasmine closed her eyes and leaned her head back, welcoming the warm rain that began to pour heavy and ruthless. It was a true monsoon, sudden and fierce, and even though Jasmine had been anticipating its arrival, it still managed to take her breath away. 

The carpet struggled to keep its speed now that it was soaked through from the weather, but Aladdin’s hand on her back and his insistent encouragement of the magic rug kept it moving forward until it crumpled weakly over the rail to her balcony, sending the two humans atop it tumbling to the hard stone. 

The lamp stayed cradled in her grip even as she fell. 

They both rushed to stand to step into the safety of the sultana’s chambers and Jasmine only released the lamp from one hand at a time to shrug off her heavy outer layers that were threatening to suffocate her. 

She caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror across the room and saw that her makeup had been almost completely washed away, only a stray streak was left on her cheek and chin, and her hair was a flat, tangled mess. Aladdin coughed behind her and when Jasmine turned, she saw him bent double with his hands on his knees, shaking his hair out. “Thank you,” she said, letting earnest gratitude slip into her voice for the first time since becoming sultana. 

“Is it worth it?” The silence had stretched between them for several moments before Aladdin broke it. “To bring him back, is it worth it?”

She looked down at the lamp, the quiet judgement and, dare she say, disappointment in his voice rolling off her like waves breaking on the shore. “If it will save Agrabah, yes. It is worth it.” She felt more than she heard Aladdin’s sigh just before he began to pace back and forth across the room. When Jasmine finally dared to sneak a glance at him, he was running a hand through his hair agitatedly and she wondered at a moment how he still seemed so boyish. He had a few more lines around his eyes and mouth now and his hair was starting to dull slightly as grey began to creep in prematurely, but he was still the handsome and free boy in the market. 

As if feeling her gaze, Aladdin stopped and sat on a stool, rubbing his face. “How can I help?” he finally asked, raising his head and meeting her gaze head on.

Jasmine inhaled deeply, knowing the answer that needed given and what he wanted her to say. He was sweet, he wanted to support her, but she didn’t need support. “We need to send a representative to our neighbors to convince them that war coming to Agrabah would not be sound.”

Aladdin’s eyes flashed with disappointment once more before he clenched his jaw and nodded. “I’ll leave in the morning.” 

The husband of the sultana leaving to conduct delicate, political negotiations was unprecedented. With war on the horizon, it would make sense for both of them to secure themselves in the palace since they didn’t yet have an heir, but Jasmine wanted to make a bold move by sending her husband. It would be a sign of trust with her potential enemies, that she trusts them with her husband and that they should trust her enough to not use force.

It was a gamble. She could lose Aladdin, just like she could have lost him in the cave, but she trusted him. He was charming, he was affable, he liked the people and understood them and always managed to appeal to the most human parts of politicians and rulers alike. He was the only option for a mission of diplomacy and the grim set to Aladdin’s face told Jasmine that he knew it as well.

Moving closer to him, Jasmine sat herself on his lap and pressed a kiss to his cheek. He had been good to her these many years, even if there was valleys between them. There was a moment when Jasmine was afraid that he would reject her before he slowly wound both arms around her and held her close. Tucking her head into the curve where his neck and shoulders met, Jasmine quietly told him of her fears.

The council, the crops, the war, losing him and facing it all alone, failure.

It came tumbling out of her mouth in a whisper, her eyes shut and her face peaceful despite the turmoil she was expressing, and Aladdin just held her. He stayed silent until she had finished then he worked an arm beneath her legs and took her to bed. 

The lamp sat on the bedside table where Jasmine usually kept documents she was reviewing for court the next day.

At dawn break, the rains were continuing but the sound of servants bringing in bath water and breakfast told Jasmine it was time to begin her day. As she sat up, she felt the emptiness beside her and knew Aladdin had left already. She turned to look at the spot where he had lain and saw a note and a rain battered flower.

Promises of returning warmed her as Jasmine stood and pulled on a robe to hide her nudity. She picked up the lamp once more as she made her way to the bath that had been drawn, pleasantly sore from the night before. It had been many months since she and Aladdin had last fallen into each other so completely; it was bittersweet knowing it was because they both felt the end marching closer. 

Used to the routine of mornings, Jasmine let herself be bathed and oils rubbed into her skin and perfume combed through her hair before she dressed and dismissed the servants.

The only sound in the room was the deafening roar of rain hitting stone and the bassy roll of thunder every so often and Jasmine closed her eyes to let it all sink in before holding the lamp tightly and rubbing its side.


End file.
